Chapter 23 The King of Yue's favorite concubine was too tired from all the fuss and couldn't walk anymore.
"Haha, Your Highness, the beauty is just shy!"
"Your Highness is truly skilled. In just one night, you have tamed this hot little beauty so quickly. We are truly impressed..."
The officials present laughed at the sight, their smiles carrying a deeper meaning.
Seeing that Yuan Yan couldn't hold back even at the banquet, Cao Jinjin finally dispelled his last doubts about her.
"It's quite a coincidence," Cao Jinjin said. "I have acquired several jars of fine wine these past few days. If Your Highness does not mind, I will deliver the wine to the government office today and ask Your Highness to taste it."
"Very well, thank you for your kind offer, Attendant Cao." Yuan Yan raised his cup and said, "Then I shall accept it without hesitation."
...
Cao Jinjin arrived at the mansion of the person behind him and described Yuan Yan's words and actions at the banquet that day.
"My lord, the King of Yue is demanding silver... How much should we give him?" she asked cautiously.
"Is that really what the Second Princess said?" the official asked to confirm.
“It is absolutely true, I dare not lie. That King of Yue is indeed a greedy and lustful man, and he made it very clear that he wanted me to send him silver. I am willing to agree, but judging from his words and actions, I am afraid that an ordinary amount would not be enough. I don’t know how much would be appropriate.”
"I understand... then give her this amount." The official said after a moment's thought.
"So many?" Cao Jinjin exclaimed in astonishment upon seeing the number.
"According to His Majesty's instructions, he is currently taking this matter very seriously. If someone follows the trail and finds out that it involves Lord Sun, which could implicate Prince Qi, then none of us should live either."
"That's why the King of Yue was given so much; it was all to buy his life," the official sneered.
"But this amount of silver is too much. If we take it all out, we're afraid we'll empty our accounts." Faced with such a huge sum of money, Cao Jinjin couldn't help but feel reluctant to part with it.
The official said calmly, "Lord Cao, there's no need to be stingy. As long as we both retain our official positions, we can earn this money back sooner or later."
...
When Yuan Yan returned to the government office, Xue Lang came to report that a servant from the Cao family had delivered several jars of wine, and he wondered if they should accept them.
“I will accept it. Xue Dianjun, have someone bring those wine jars over; I want to see them myself,” Yuan Yan said.
Upon hearing this, Xue Lang led his men there.
By this time, the servants of the Cao family had already unloaded the wine jars onto the ground. The servants from the government office went to move them, but even a strong woman who looked so tall couldn't lift them on her first attempt.
"Didn't you eat enough at noon? It's just a jar of wine, how come you can't even move it?" Xue Lang frowned when he saw this, thinking that the servants in this government office were too weak. They couldn't even move a mere jar of wine. What kind of women were they?
The servants nearby quickly lent a hand to help, and with their combined efforts, the wine jar was finally lifted, albeit shakily.
However, seeing the two of them struggling and gritting their teeth, Xue Lang's brows furrowed even deeper.
“This wine jar is so heavy, yet the two of you still couldn’t move it steadily.”
Hearing her words of dissatisfaction, the servants in the government office secretly felt wronged.
“My lord, it’s not that we’re not strong enough, but this wine jar is just too heavy. It’s not that we’ve never carried wine before, but we’ve never seen such a heavy wine jar!” the servant said.
"What kind of wine can be so heavy?"
Xue Lang, however, believed that the two servants were making excuses. "If that's how you put it, then I'll have to give it a try."
However, just as she was about to make her move, Yuan Yan walked over with Yu Liu.
"Hehe, Commander Xue, you've wronged those two." She couldn't help but laugh at the scene before her. With a wave of her hand, she dismissed all the officials and servants present, leaving only Xue Lang and a few of the Prince's guards.
"These aren't ordinary wines; a heavier weight is to be expected."
Upon seeing Yuan Yan arrive in person, Xue Lang immediately bowed and greeted him, "Your Highness."
"It's all my fault for being too slow and keeping Your Highness waiting." She quickly apologized.
"Relax, we're all family here, no need for such formalities." Yuan Yan shook his head. "I told you this wine is unusual. If you don't believe me, Commander Xue, you can try it yourselves and see for yourselves."
Yu Liu followed them and looked at the wine jars, asking curiously, "I don't believe it. The jars are only so big. How heavy can the wine be?"
As she spoke, she and Xue Lang each tried one jar.
It wouldn't have mattered if we hadn't tried, but once we did, things turned out quite differently. Yu Liu hadn't taken the wine jar seriously at first, and tried to lift it with only a little effort, but he lost his footing and stumbled back a few steps.
Xue Lang's situation was better. After listening to Yuan Yan's words, she became much more cautious and slowly lifted the wine jar from the bottom up.
Yu Liu immediately became honest. "Your Highness, what's in this wine jar? Why is it so heavy?"
"It's silver."
As Yuan Yan spoke, he opened the nearest wine jar. To everyone's astonishment, it revealed a jar full of silver coins.
"Your Highness, this...this is all filled with silver?" Yu Liu stared in astonishment at the gleaming silver in the wine jar.
Yuan Yan nodded: "Exactly."
"If all these jars were filled with silver, how much silver would they contain!" The other guards of the Prince's mansion couldn't believe it either.
However, upon opening the wine jar, they discovered that, just as Yuan Yan had said, it was filled entirely with silver.
Xue Lang was shocked, and even his voice lowered as he asked, "Your Highness, where did you get so much silver...?"
"It was Lord Cao who generously gifted me this. Having received so much silver, I must thank Lord Cao," Yuan Yan said without any hesitation.
Her words were calm, but the content of them terrified everyone in the palace.
"But, Your Highness, isn't Lord Cao an official of Chuzhou... Your Highness is ordered to inspect the grain; wouldn't accepting her money be tantamount to bribery?" Xue Lang stammered.
Yuan Yan teased her, "Yes, if this gets out and is impeached by other ministers, I'm afraid I won't escape severe punishment this time."
"No, Your Highness... perhaps we should return this silver." Upon hearing this, Xue Lang immediately became worried and wanted to persuade Yuan Yan to return the silver he had received. Silver may be valuable, but if it were to lose the Emperor's favor because of it, it would be a great loss for a small gain.
"Don't worry, I did accept the money, but who said that accepting money means I have to do things for them?" After saying this, Yuan Yan turned and left.
"Xue Dianjun, gather a few trusted women and move this silver into the warehouse. Guard it closely, and no one else is allowed to approach the warehouse."
"If you find anyone suspicious, you may arrest them without hesitation."
Yuan Yan also gave Xue Lang a private instruction, telling her to be wary of Yu'er, who was in his room, and not to let her get close, no matter what excuse she gave.
"This subordinate understands." Xue Lang finally felt relieved after hearing this, and bowed to accept the order.
For the next two days, Yuan Yan took Yu'er with him wherever he went.
She always held him in her arms, unwilling to let go for a moment, and showed great affection for Yu'er in front of others.
This made Yu'er want to use her status as a favored servant to do something, but she could never find an opportunity.
Furthermore, because Yuan Yan allowed Yang Shiguan and the others to audit the accounts separately, while he himself only indulged in banquets and outings every day, he never discussed any serious matters with the governor and those Chuzhou officials.
As a result, Yu'er gained nothing from staying by Yuan Yan's side for several days.
Even with his patience, he couldn't help but start to have doubts. Had he really made the right decision to stay by the side of this incompetent princess, Yuan Yan?
Seeing that she couldn't get anything out of Yuan Yan, Yu'er had no choice but to change her approach.
Therefore, when Yuan Yan wanted to take her out again, Yu'er refused no matter what.
"Your Highness is incredibly powerful. You exhausted Yu'er last night... Yu'er is too tired to walk anymore. Please let Yu'er rest today."
He used the events of the night as a shield, making excuses to avoid leaving the mansion with Yuan Yan.
Last night, hehe... These past few nights, she hasn't done anything at all, just lay in bed smelling the fragrance and pretending to be asleep. She hasn't even touched a single finger of his, so what kind of trouble is this? This Yu'er really knows how to make excuses.
Yuan Yan sneered inwardly.
But she didn't show it on her face.
"Is the beauty unwell? If so, then let her rest well at home. I will attend the banquet alone."
After saying that, she turned and left under Yu'er's visibly relieved gaze, and got into the carriage that left the government office.
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